A dear friend, who I will call Jim, of my former partner, and I, after the LDS church’s response to the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court on same-sex marriage and then the response to the decision by the Boy Scouts of America to allow inclusion of gay scouting leaders, …

“This follow-up was honestly a little hard to write. Not that the past two and a half years were painful to revisit, but rather because they weren’t. I went to my interview with a guy that I had been dating for a few weeks and now we live together in …

“I remember filming a couple years ago in Provo, Utah, still getting re-adjusted to life back in the USA after a few years overseas with the recently ex-wife. I’ve come to consider that long flight from Abu Dhabi across the wide Atlantic as my second birthday. The new life has …

“The major change since filming my interview for the Far Between project was the death of my mother in February of 2013. Having lived with her as her caregiver for almost five years, I was completely thrown off balance and suffered intense confusion and loneliness. What saved me was deep …

“It’s been 3 years since I was interviewed for the Far Between Project, and I have a very different life. I graduated from BYU and moved home to Washington to start my life again. My sexuality is no longer an issue for me at all. I stopped letting others tell …

When I first began to realize that I might be queer, I was terrified. Like most Mormons, I was afraid of being queer because of the implications it had for the possibility of a future marriage, my relationship to the Church, and even my eternal salvation. I spent countless hours …

“When the ban on gay marriage in Utah was struck down (for a few days), I got down on one knee and proposed to my boyfriend–who bust up laughing because he knew I was joking. We’d only been dating two months. It’s been over two years since I filmed my …

A list that asks us to be sensitive and to ask questions instead of offering advice, or making assumptions. It’s a list especially well suited to share with our LDS friends and family members. This list is compiled by Ty Mansfield who, along with his wife, has contributed an interview to the …

“Wow. The emotional landscape of my life has shifted so dramatically since my interview. While I was very happy during the time that this video was filmed, this happiness was a struggle. I was living in an environment where I couldn’t easily talk about my girlfriend with anyone except my …

“Since recording this video, I have finished my master’s degree and now have a grown-up job with insurance. Me and my wife are the parents of a very busy one-year-old who can say “OK” and “I do!” and will probably let you hold him, though if you’re wearing glasses he will …

“IT DOES GET BETTER! After four years of going through drug addiction, depression and suicidal thoughts I am now clean, happy, and close to my family once again. Never give up on your hopes, dreams, and aspirations. With a little hope, they will come true and we can all be …

“Since the “It gets better” video I have left both BYU and the LDS church. I was so afraid to do both but trusted that being true to myself would bring me greater happiness and two years later I have been greatly rewarded for doing so. I am happier than …

“Cort and I were legally married in 2013 in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. With the repeal of DADT in 2010, my now husband joined the military—something he has wanted to do for as long as he can remember. Thinking that the repeal of DADT would mean …

“Life has changed quite a bit since I first participated in the FBM project, and only for the better. Looking back at where I was then, I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress in my life. For the first time in my life, I’m living a 100% authentic …

“Since participating in this project we have used these videos in seminars, classrooms, therapy sessions and out in our every-day conversations on a regular basis. We have seen these stories transform lives and soften hearts in miraculous ways. I have since gone on to study Marriage and Family Therapy at …

“It’s an exciting time in life and there’s a lot of change in the near future for me! It’s June 2014, and I just graduated with honors in April from BYU. I gave the convocation speech at the Theatre and Media Arts, Dance, and Music graduation, which was so surreal …

“When I was asked to write a little about about where I am now in life, it made me really reflect on the last 3 years since I made that “it gets better” video. It made me pause and ask myself, ‘has it really gotten better? Do I like where …

“During the time of the film, I was in the beginning stages of a 2 1/2 year relationship with another woman, with my husband’s knowledge and blessing. Within five months of the film, Kendall (Hill) and I were divorced yet still living together. We continued to live together as co-parents …

“With total authenticity, I can now pronounce ‘it can get better!’ After BYU, I moved to Salt Lake City and continued to work on the mental anguish I had been suffering through. I started to move away from the counsel I had strictly followed throughout my life, and as I did …

A few years ago, I sat in a session of an Evergreen conference in the heart of Salt Lake in a large and electrified room full of fellow “strugglers” as well as family and friends of strugglers. A lot has changed for me since then, but I still remember when …

I re-read Ty Mansfield’s introduction to the Voices of Hope video series yesterday and felt all my muscles tensing and had to stop. It isn’t all bad, but it isn’t all good, because it is incomplete. The conceit of the website’s introduction seems to be based on the common yet limited …

This is a blog post I’ve seen in heavy circulation the past couple of days. Perhaps you’ve seen it too. This is my response that does not center around the debate over gay rights, but instead on the risks we run when we set one person’s story up as a universal …

Throughout the process of creating Far Between, it’s been apparent that the tone of conversations about the experience of being homosexual and Mormon greatly affects how people view themselves and respond to their situations. As part of Far Between’s effort to engage more constructive and helpful conversations, the Far Between …

I recently had the opportunity of describing my experience of being gay and Mormon in a stake leadership training meeting. My stake president has been wanting to change the atmosphere in our stake to be friendlier to gay and lesbian members, and as a step in that process he called …